


Seeing Double

by andtheny



Series: Phantom Pain [1]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom as separate entities, Gen, hints of pitch pearl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-04-07 17:16:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19089523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andtheny/pseuds/andtheny
Summary: “Insolent brat,” the ghost said. “I should drag you into the ghost zone. Throw you in a frozen wasteland.”Phantom gasped. “And then just leave me for dead? Er, for undead? Cruel.”The ghost actually pouted. “Hardy har har, you’re very funny,” he sighed. “Are all teenagers like this? Is there no off button?”“Afraid not.”Below them, Fenton groaned. Phantom glanced down for just a split second but that was all the time the creepy vampire needed to pounce.





	1. Chapter 1

He waited until well after midnight. He knew Maddie and that dullard, Jack, would be deep in REM sleep by then. Shivering as he floated out of his body, he stretched and yawned like a vampire rising out of a crypt.

It felt good to expand his ectoplasm again, free from that meatsack. Sometimes he wondered why he still bothered to lug the thing around. But as he looked at himself tucked into bed, his long silver hair neatly arranged on the pillow he assured himself that it was a handsome package. Maddie would prefer it to the blue skin and fangs of his true form. 

Yet Vlad was no longer used to containing himself within his human half for long. Least of all in his own home, where he’d normally float about freely. 

It was best to get used to restraint now, he reasoned, when he married Maddie it would be best for her not to _see._

It would have been better, he thought sourly, if she hadn’t left him to waste away for so many years. Waiting for her to leave that damn fool, waiting for her to reach out. When she didn’t he felt as if he might as well be dead. He had allowed his muscles to atrophy, he would forget to feed the damn body, he’d leave it in bed, he-

But no use dwelling on that now. He’d bounced back. Regained his strength. The body was perfect now. Well muscled but refined. His clothes were perfect, his hair shone. Vlad didn’t need to examine the body again to know that.

The time he spent waiting, regretting, yearning for her… Well, it would not matter once Jack was dead. 

Not tonight, of course, he knew that would arouse suspicion. Oh he had a grand plan, he would re-integrate himself into their lives. They’d be best friends again, the three of them. He’d move to Amity Park, soon enough, he’d join the business. Funding, they needed funding now that the ghosts were flooding the city. They needed new tech, maybe a team of interns, researchers, Vlad had connections to universities and government officials.

Maddie would be overjoyed and then, the tragedy. A grieving widow. 

But _not tonight_ he reminded himself as he flew around the mansion. Like a new father pacing in a hospital room, he flitted from one room to another, anxious and impatient. As soon as he’d seen the buffoon it had been all he could do to stop himself from leaking out of his skin, he’d wanted to leap out and into the other man’s hulking body.

He’d wanted to clamp down on his neck, squeeze the life out, Take a bite out of his flesh. If he could Vlad wanted to-

_What was that?_

Vlad froze, his ghost halting halfway through the floor. The floor of the ballroom, that is, while his head poked out of the ceiling in the kitchen. It wasn’t that he’d heard a noise, there was no disturbance in the mansion. All the humans in the building were accounted for. He could feel the heat of them in each guest bedroom, their bodies peacefully slumbering. 

His own body, too, lay as if asleep. Though he knew the state he left it in each time was akin to a coma. Should a doctor examine him while he was away, he knew his human half would be hospitalized. He had, in fact, been hospitalized several times. 

But what _was_ that? He felt it in the air. A disturbance, a vibration, a ghost? It wasn’t the dairy king. That old man was a guppy, his existence a pebble dropped into a pond. _This_ fellow on the other hand… Felt like a boulder. 

Then a blast of ectoplasm shot at his head and he crashed back the way he came, through the ceiling, and the presence was a volcanic eruption.

The first attack caught him by surprise, but Vlad was prepared for the next one. His shields were up and he sent a clone after the intruder. The ghost put up a fight, he was a powerful little thing, but even a volcano is powerless against the sun. 

Vlad sent a second clone after the pair, though the ghost had already been subdued. He felt it was safer that way. When he approached, both clones had the boy pinned between them. All four of his limbs had been restrained. Ah, had he kicked them? 

A young ghost, then. Not only young in death, but he had lived a short life. That much was obvious. The young buck bared his teeth at Vlad, green eyes flashing, and even now struggled against his clones. 

“Why do you attack me, boy?” It really was a curious thing. Most ghosts could sense the powerful aura surrounding his mansion and were smart enough to fly around. Only the dairy king was allowed to make a home here, as he’d been haunting the place years before Vlad had been born. 

“Cause you give me the heebie jeebies?” the boy said with a grimace. “What are you, a vampire? What do you want with the family here? Are you going to eat them?” 

Vlad blinked. “You mean the Fentons?” 

“No the illegal immigrants hiding in the basement,” the white haired ghost deadpanned. 

“What?” Vlad recognized teenage sarcasm when he heard it. But that didn’t make it any less disorienting to hear it, especially in this context. 

“Yes the Fentons!” the ghost glared up at him from under his bangs, then he blew at them, trying to get them out of his face. “Look if you aren’t going to hurt them can you let me go? I realize now I may have jumped the gun just a tiny bit.” 

“Is that so?” Vlad bared his fangs.

The boy gulped. “Y-you seem like a reasonable man,” he said. “We can totally talk this out like adults. We both have humans we care about right? You’re haunting the creepy millionaire, I’m haunting the family, no one needs to interfere with anyone’s, uh, haunt here.” 

“You think I’m haunting Vlad Masters?” Vlad said. 

“Or I guess you might just be haunting the mansion?” the boy shrugged. Or tried to, but the clones had a firm grasp on his arms. “Did you die here or something?” 

Vlad stared at him in silence for a moment, processing that scenario. Then he began laughing. Slowly at first, small chuckles, and then more loudly.

If he were in his body he’d feel the laughter in his temples, he’d feel the strain on his facial muscles. If he were in his body he might have bent over, he might have gulped for air.

But he was not in his body. He was free to laugh, louder and louder, the sound echoing around them as both of his clones picked up on the mirth as it leaked out of him. Together the three of them laughed, they laughed harder than he had ever had reason to laugh before.

The boy was disturbed. He blasted one of the clones in the chin, the firepower enough to dissolve it. Vlad took hold of his arm in an instant and the boy remained pin between them, cowed as Vlad leaned into his face with a manic grin, close enough to kiss the boy atop his head if he so desired. 

Slowly, the laughter died and Vlad put his arm around the boy’s shoulder. He dismissed the remaining clone and steered the boy amicably through the mansion, towards the bedroom where his body lay. 

“My boy!” Vlad said, in good spirits for a reason he could not begin to explain to himself. “Vlad Masters is no mere _human_. I do not flit about him invisibly, nor do I torment him as a poltergeist might.” 

“I don’t understand,” the ghost said. “I don’t… What do you mean?” 

“I’ll show you,” Vlad said. “I’ll show you why I am special. Why I am powerful.” 

The boy stiffened when he saw the body. It looked like any other human, peacefully sleeping. He might have worried that they would wake him. To demonstrate just how soundly this body slept Vlad made a show of lifting every object in the room.

The bed, the desk, the chair and closet doors. The shelves and every book in them, pens and papers, bookends and paper weights, everything save the floor and walls was allowed to float around the room. Vlad’s body lay undisturbed as the blanket over him flew away, as the bedpost rattled and a book of stamps lightly landed on his head.

Vlad didn’t want to give himself a concussion, but he was tempted to wack himself with a lamp, just to prove his point. 

“I thought you said you weren’t a poltergeist,” the ghost said.

Vlad sighed. “A normal human would be awake by now, don’t you think?” 

The boy crossed his arms over his chest. As he did so Vlad realized for the first time that he was wearing a black and white full bodysuit. Was it hazmat? Like the ridiculous get up Maddie and Jack wore at all times. 

Strange. 

The boy put his hands on his hips. “Look could you please _stop._ Maybe?” 

Vlad frowned at the gall of this lad to order him around like this. On his own property. In his own bedroom. But there was something charming about the ghost. Vlad did not scold him. In fact he was inclined to do as the child requested, he wanted to seem friendly now. Though he could not fathom why. Something in the boys features was endearing. His cheekbones? The shape of his jaw? Vlad could not pinpoint exactly what it was about this boy that was so... familiar. 

Until it hit him. The boy looked like Maddie. Like her son, who he had met this afternoon. That boy had hair like his father’s, eyes like his father’s so it had been hard to _look_ at him without seeing _Jack_ but _this_ boy. His hair was fair, his eyes green. 

And so his mother shone through, blindingly bright. Dazzling him. 

Abruptly everything in the room plummeted to the ground. The bed landed on the ground first, it was the heaviest object in the room, and crashed with a sharp _bang._ Everything else rained down with little thumps and the tinkling of shattering glass. Light bulbs breaking, perhaps. Or a paperweight. But Vlad didn’t care. He was staring at the boy, dumbfounded. 

The smaller ghost was startled by the sudden change, he bolted for the ceiling. Vlad grabbed him by the wisp of his tail and yanked him back towards him. 

“Oh no you don’t!” Vlad said. “It took me a moment, but I recognize you now.” 

“R-recognize me?” Her son was panicking. “I don’t… What?” 

Vlad chuckled. “I should have realized it sooner. Wasn’t there an accident? Months ago?” It was inevitable that things would turn out this way. Jack and Maddie were mad scientists at their core. Even their own children were not safe. “I heard there was an explosion.” 

The boy played dumb. “What?” He wriggled around in Vlad’s arms and tried an ecto-blast. Vlad allowed the charge to hit him in the shoulder, he winced and tightened his grip on the boy. But he would not hurt the lad. This was a firm hug, at worst. 

“The _portal_ Daniel, were you there?” Vlad felt himself giggle. This was perfect, he realized, he couldn’t have asked for a more perfect outcome. “When they activated the portal, were you in the room?” 

He had seemed so confused when Vlad had alluded to his nature, but there was really no need to explain it after all. They were the same! Perhaps young Daniel simply thought he was alone in this.

Vlad could not blame him for that assumption. He’d thought the same. 

It took him a moment to process Vlad’s words, but when he did he stopped struggling. Vlad let him go. They drifted apart, facing each other. 

If it were possible for the blood to drain from a ghost’s face, young Daniel would be paling right now. As it was he looked shocked. Horrified. 

But why? 

“Don’t worry,” Vlad said. “It happened to me too.” 

“It did?”

“I’ll show you,” Vlad said. “Look!” 

The room was in shambles now, but it didn’t matter. His body continued to sleep peacefully on the bed, though the frame had cracked and splintered under him. The blankets were gone, somewhere in a pile on the other side of the room, and he lay with his hair a tangled mess over his face. It didn’t matter, it didn’t matter.

Though now Vlad wished he’d presented a better image to his young charge. He felt a bit embarrassed. _It didn’t matter._

The boy watched as Vlad approached his human half. He sat down on top of him, his legs neatly fitting inside his flesh, he lay back and lowered himself into his own torso.

They were a perfect fit, of course. 

It was a little disorienting this time, to blink his eyes open and find his hair in his face. His left arm was numb. It had been pinned under his body when he’d moved the bed. He massaged it a bit, trying to get rid of the tingling, and looked up at Daniel for his reaction.

“I don’t understand,” the boy said. “You possessed him?” 

Vlad blinked, “What? No I-”

There was a sharp knock on his bedroom door. “Mister Masters! Are you okay?!”

Vlad and the ghost boy blinked at each other.

“Mister Masters! It’s Danny, I thought I heard something break in here?!” 

The ghost flew towards Vlad and urgently whispered, “Don’t tell him I’m here!”

Then he vanished as the door was kicked open and young Daniel Fenton, human and black haired, ran into the room. “What happened?! Was there a ghost?” 

Before Vlad could respond the boy shouted, “I’ll get my parents!”

Then he ran back down the hallway.   


	2. Chapter 2

Maybe he should have followed Jazz to the home theater. She was probably eating popcorn for dinner while watching boring football documentaries. What’s so wrong with football anyway? Other than the way the sport inherently reminded him of Dash, that is.

But this was definitely worse. It was like going to a school dance with your parents. And also everyone else’s parents. While you’re the only person in the room born after the 1960s. Was it normal to bring your kid to your college reunion? It couldn’t be, Danny was the only kid here. 

He flinched as a new song began to play on the speakers over head. Oh no, this was his dad’s favorite song. He was gonna track him down and make him dance that stupid pogo stick dance where they jump up and down like idiots. Time to get out of here.

For the first time Danny realized his stature was working in his favor. He slipped in between the other dancers easily and had almost made it across the room when he felt a meaty hand land on his shoulder. 

Oh no. 

“Listen Dad I can’t dance right now,” Danny said. “I really need to go to the bathroom!”

“That’s not important,” his dad said. “I need to talk to you about Masters.” 

Danny blinked. His dad never addressed Mr. Masters by his last name. It was always Vladdy or V-man or something. He squinted up at his father and was startled to note that the man stared back with strange green eyes. Green eyes!

“Phantom?!” 

The ghost flinched with his father’s face. “Let’s talk somewhere else.”

“What are you doing?!” Danny slapped the hand off his shoulder and spun around to directly face him. “Get out of him. Right now!” 

“Wait,” Phantom said. “It’s not safe for me to-”

“If you don’t get out of there right now I’m going to scream for my mom,” Danny said. “I swear to God I will. And she’ll, I don’t know, vacuum you out. And then torture you!”

Phantom puppeteered his dad’s arms to lift in mock surrender. “Fine. Meet me in the kitchen.” Then he saluted. 

Danny knew he was gone when his dad blinked, his eyes blue once again.  
“Whoa,” his dad said. “It took me so long to find you the song’s almost over!” 

Resigned, Danny allowed himself to get dragged back towards the dance floor. 

 

oOo

 

“What the hell possessed you to think that it was okay to, to,” Danny sputtered. “To actually posses my dad?!” 

Phantom chuckled. “That one was weak.” 

They were standing in the pantry. Well, Danny was standing. Phantom was floating. And glowing faintly, enough that they could see each other without a light.

“Seriously,” Danny said. “What are you doing out here anyway? I didn’t know ghosts could just…”

“Leave the place they haunt?” Phantom reclined in the air, floating on his back now. “It’s not always as simple as that.” He cradled his head in his palms, fingers interlocked, elbows sticking out. “Ghosts are more complex than you Fentons give us credit for.” 

“Yeah, yeah my parents are racist, spare me,” Danny said. “I thought this was urgent?” 

Phantom frowned. “It’s Masters.”

“What about him?” 

“He’s possessed,” Phantom said. “There’s this really powerful ghost-” 

“Wait you mean like the way you possessed my dad two seconds ago?” Danny grabbed the back of Phantom’s jumpsuit and tugged him out of the air. He overestimated just how light the ghost was and pulled with too much force, falling backwards as Phantom bounced against his chest.

If he were a normal person affected by gravity or momentum Phantom might have landed in Danny’s lap. As it was he hovered over Danny stiffly. As if he’d decided to flip over, he no longer floated on his back. He lay on his stomach, chin propped up on his palm. 

His elbows rested as if there was a floor under them. Phantom bent his knees and crossed his ankles together, peering down at Danny like last week’s incomplete History essay.

It was this strange stillness in him that allowed Danny to see for the first time that Phantom was not as relaxed as he pretended to be. Something had seriously freaked him out.

Regretting his interruption now Danny picked himself up off the floor and regarded Phantom carefully. The ghost continued to hover over him as he moved, his eyes followed his movements like a cat waiting for its owner to feed him. 

Danny gulped, disturbed by this weird silence he’d accidentally knocked them into. 

“A really powerful ghost?” he prompted. 

Phantom blinked. “Right.” He straightened himself out, vertical at last. “He can make clones of himself.” Shuddering, the ghost placed a hand on Danny’s head. “He slipped into Masters like a pair of shoes. Look, it wasn’t exactly the same way I did it with your dad.” 

“I’m sorry about that,” Phantom continued. “I just wanted to check.” 

Phantom’s hand remained on Danny’s head. Idly patting him. Danny grabbed it and pulled Phantom down, more carefully this time, so that the ghost was forced to stand with his feet on the ground. 

“What do you mean?” Danny said.

Before the ghost could respond the door to the pantry opened. Phantom went invisible and Danny blinked into the light.

“Ah, there you are Daniel,” Vlad Masters said. “Just the Fenton I wanted to see.” 

 

oOo

 

Danny told him he was looking for guacamole. So Masters had taken it upon himself to make some from scratch, preening at the opportunity to slice open the avocados he’d just had shipped from… Some foreign country.

He was having trouble paying attention. Nodding and smiling, trying to look suitably impressed as the older man bustled around his chrome and steel kitchen, Danny wondered if Phantom was still in the room. He’d said Vlad was possessed by a powerful ghost, so it was likely.

But Danny found it hard to believe as he watched this man, his father’s old college pal, get so excited about homemade guacamole. 

However, there was definitely something weird going on here. The way Danny had found Masters last night, sitting in the middle of that tornado disaster zone of a room, had been disconcerting, to say the least. Though Masters had sworn up and down that there were no ghosts and locked the doors before Danny got back with his parents. They’d gone back to sleep at his assurances, disappointed. His parents had, that is. Danny remained awake for the rest of the night. 

“Did you sleep alright?” Danny said, finally, while Masters’ back was turned. He was focused on chopping up some tomatoes. “After I, uh, woke you?” 

“I slept quite well in my little mess,” Masters said, jovially. He drew his shoulders back and laughed heartily, like a bad actor in a cheerful school play. “I’m sorry I woke you.” 

Masters turned around to look at Danny directly; to assess his reaction. In answer, Danny shrugged. 

“I’ve grown so used to an empty house over the years,” Masters continued. “I’ve forgotten the basic decorum of leaving a night undisturbed.” 

“Though I was also surprised you heard me,” Masters said. “The guest rooms are on an entirely different floor.” 

“Yeah, this place is ridiculously big,” Danny said. He tugged on the hairs at the nape of his neck. “But it’s also, uh, really empty. Sounds echo far.” 

He felt fingers on his back, lightly making their existence known before Phantom’s palms pressed down on him. The ghost lifted them to his shoulders slowly, it was like a weird back rub, and then he clamped down. He held Danny like this, by the shoulders, and then his chest was pressed against Danny’s back. He whispered, “Tread carefully.” 

Danny did not react. “Oh and my room was closest to the staircase,” he added. “But anyway I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions like that. Guess it just runs in my family, huh? Any strange little thing happens and my dad’s first reaction is ghosts! It’s contagious.” 

Masters laughed again, normally this time and Danny grinned. 

“I understand,” Masters said. “I understand your father’s enthusiasm for ghosts better than anyone else possibly could. Well, aside from your mother, of course.” 

“Of course,” Danny said. He tried to make his smile as easy going as possible. 

“Tone down the teeth,” Phantom whispered. Danny dropped the smile. He reached for the hairs at his neck again, with both hands this time, and made as if to stretch his back so he could elbow Phantom off of him. He missed, but Phantom left on his own with an indignant huff of air. 

Masters had gone back to slicing up his tomatoes during this exchange. He hummed to himself as he poured the little cubes into a bowl. 

“While I’ve got you here Daniel,” he said. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask.” 

“Okay,” Danny said. Now he regretted not knowing where Phantom was. The ghost was still in the room, obviously, but it was disorienting not being able to just see him. 

“The portal,” Masters said. He paused, frowning to himself. Danny blinked. 

For a moment they both just stared at each other.

“The day it was finally, well, operational,” Masters said. “There was an accident.”

It was a statement, but Danny thought he knew what Masters was trying to ask. 

“I didn’t have any side effects,” Danny said. “No, uh, ecto-acne, was it?” 

“Yes,” Masters sighed. “It afflicted me for many years.” 

“I’m sorry about that,” Danny said. “It must have been, uh, alienating.” 

The way Masters laughed just then was loud enough to startle them both. It was not the showy fake laughter he had started with, nor the mild amusement Danny had pegged as his real laughter. It was a short burst of breath, like it had been punched out of him, and Masters covered his mouth as if he’d burped. 

To assure the older man that there was nothing to be embarrassed about Danny giggled. It sounded stupid, but it was the best reaction he could have chosen. Masters beamed at him.

“You’re an intelligent boy,” Masters said. “You must get it from your mother.” 

“Nah, my sister is the real brainiac,” Danny said. “She aces everything and then reads ahead. You know she’s already taking college classes? She hasn’t even graduated yet!” 

“Don’t underestimate yourself Daniel. With guidance, I’m sure you could-”

With a groan, Phantom popped into existence between them. “Oh my god I’m going to barf!” he said. “Stop it!” 

Masters blinked. Then he gasped. “A ghost!” 

Danny winced. “Sh-should I get my parents?” 

“Enough with the sham!” Phantom hovered over Masters with his shoulders squared, his hands planted on his hips. “Reveal yourself you, you ghost!” 

Masters gulped. “You’re calling me a ghost?” He shook his head. “There must be some sort of misunderstand-” 

Then Phantom grabbed Masters around his midsection and pulled. “You’re not,” he huffed. “Fooling me!” Something faintly glowed in his fist. Danny squinted at it.

It was red? No. Pink.

“I can see,” Phantom planted his feet on Masters’ shoulders as he continued to tug on his midsection, upside down now. “Your core!” Phantom grunted.

The older man was so confused by the ghosts actions that he remained still as the ghost slowly pulled a glowing tendril of pink energy out of him. When it was out Masters collapsed.

“Whoa!” Danny sprang forward to catch him. Too late, he was already on the floor. But Danny propped him up against the cabinets. Or tried to, Masters’ body tilted sideways, nearly squashing the teen. 

Meanwhile the ball of pink energy in Phantom’s hands exploded. It was the last thing Danny saw before he blacked out.


	3. Chapter 3

“Well,” Five vampire ghosts said, calmly floating in a circle in the middle of the room. “There is a first time for everything, I suppose.” 

Their voices reverberated in the air as they spoke. Phantom winced at the sound of it. Worse than five pieces of chalk scrapped on a blackboard all at once. 

He’d landed on the fridge. Actually he’d made a Phantom-sized dent in the door. When he lifted himself out of it he saw the shape he left behind. A steel plated snow angel.  

The explosion had been so sudden he’d been too slow to react. Normally he’d have preferred to just fly _through_ the fridge and then circle back. Not that it hurt to crumple the door of a steel fridge like tin foil _with your body._ When you’re a ghost nothing hurts. 

Unless you forget that nothing hurts, Phantom thought with another wince. He rolled his shoulders forward and flapped his arms and legs. Like when your foot falls asleep and you just need to get the blood flowing again. Except for _all_ his limbs.

And ectoplasm instead of blood.   

The ghost clones were ignoring him at the moment. They regarded each other with cheshire grins and started holding hands.

What the heck.

Anyway, the impact didn’t hurt Phantom. At all. Actually, what really hurt was seeing Fenton on the ground with that creep. They looked like they were taking a nap together, which, gross. Vlad Masters gave Phantom pedo vibes up and down. Even if the man were dead he didn’t want his carcass touching his-

Touching Fenton. 

“You’re a foolhardy boy, you know,” The clones said. They’d begun slowly merging together, but they still had five mouths. “What did you think you’d accomplish with that little stunt?”

Phantom might have answered, but he was too busy staring at the way the clones melted into each other. They’d started at their arms, linking them together into these weird connected ropes. Their hands disappeared and their arms shortened between them, bringing their torsos together as the circle shrunk. Then the arms were gone and they were all torsos, half connected like some freaky twins. All shoulders and five heads. 

“It’s rude to stare,” the ghost heads said. 

“Sorry,” Phantom said. “Uh, is this normal for you?” 

They glared at Phantom. “ _No_ as a matter of fact!” The heads had finally reached each other and his voice wobbled as the heads swallowed each other up. “Y-you scatt-t-t-t-ered my-y-y ecto-o-o-oplasm-m!”   

“Is that what I did?” Phantom said. “ _So_ sorry about that. Won’t happen again.” He mimed taking notes. “Yanking at core... bad. Scatters… Ectoplasm…” He pretended to click a pen. “There. Won’t happen again.” 

“Insolent brat,” the ghost said. He was in one piece now. “I should drag you into the ghost zone. Throw you in a frozen wasteland.” 

Phantom gasped. “And then just leave me for dead? Er, for undead? Cruel.” 

The ghost actually _pouted._ “Hardy har har, you’re very funny,” he sighed. “Are all teenagers like this? Is there no off button?” 

“Afraid not.” 

Below them, Fenton groaned. Phantom glanced down for just a _split second_ but that was all the time the creepy vampire needed to pounce. He sprang forward and grabbed Phantom by the back of his hazmat suit, lifting him like a baby kitten, and dragged him intangibly through a wall. 

Through several walls. Phantom couldn’t tell if they were flying up or down. He didn’t know how fast they were going, but the world was a blur of colors around them. 

He knew it was faster than he’d ever flown before. 

Kicking, punching, screaming, Phantom struggled. At first he had fired ecto blasts in all directions, but then he heard a woman scream and stopped. There was a crowd of people in this mansion, he remembered. Innocent humans. Had he hurt someone? 

Fenton would never forgive him.   


oOo

 

“Calm down,” Mr. Vampire hissed. “I’m not going to hurt you.” 

“No? So you’re just going to imprison me in this ominously glowing cube for the rest of eternity?” Phantom said. “Just torture me, this is boring.”  

The cube was black and green. It looked like it had been made out of a hundred computer circuit boards pieced together like legos. Phantom’s entire body was locked inside, with just his head sticking out at the top. 

“For the rest of eternity,” the ghost echoed. “So dramatic.” 

“Well excuse me mister devil horns haircut, cloak and dagger high collar cape, vampire wannabe… uh… _poser_ ,” Phantom spat with as much attitude as he could muster. “You lock me up in an evil laboratory and, oh I know, next you’ll pop out some more clones and all take turns maniacally laughing. But oh no _I’m_ the dramatic one!” 

The ghost rolled his eyes. “Are you done?” 

Phantom opened his mouth. Paused, his brows furrowing. Opened his mouth again, but then sighed. “Yeah, I’m all out.” 

“Good,” the ghost said. “Now, I’m tired of this ‘mister vampire’ nonsense. From now on you will address me as-” he paused to straighten his spine, sweeping his cape out behind him. It drifted on a celestial breeze. “Vlad Plasmius.”

Neither of them spoke for a beat. Phantom tried to hold his non-existent breath, puffing his cheeks out like a chipmunk. Then he burst into giggles. 

That was it. Giggles. Childish little ones. The type that come with an excessive bout of tickling, the kind Fenton allowed to leak out- just a bit- while he was chatting up Masters. 

As if remembering that encounter, Plasmius smiled. It was not the reaction Phantom had been expecting. His giggling choked off abruptly. He cleared his throat. 

Plasmius nodded. “Alright,” he said. “Let’s have it.” 

“What?” 

“Your name. I know you have one.” The older ghost drifted closer to Phantom’s head and crossed his legs. Floating indian style. He crossed his arms too and looked like one of those hippy buddhists trying to levitate. 

Phantom hesitated.

“Or should I just call you Daniel?” 

“No!” Again, Phantom cleared his throat. “No, I’m not. There isn’t-” 

“A connection between you two?” Plasmius chuckled. “I’m not blind, son.” 

“Don’t call me that either,” Phantom said. “Just. It’s Phantom.” 

“Just Phantom?” the ghost said. He grinned, his canines glinting in the harsh red lights lining the ceiling. 

Odd choice for a laboratory, now that Phantom thought about it. It was bright enough that he could see all the equipment clearly, which all looked about as sinister as anything that could be found at Fenton Works, but the red lighting really emphasized the _evil laboratory_ vibe.

It was overkill, really.

Plasmius straightened up again and circled the cube. As if to thoroughly examine him. But all he could examine was Phantom’s head, so what was the point? 

“Born on the day of young Daniel Fenton’s accident?”

Phantom sputtered. “I’m a _ghost._ I wasn’t _born_ -” 

“You’re not a normal ghost,” Plasmius said. “Neither am I. Most ghosts are created when their bodies die. But _we_ ,” He reached out to ruffle Phantom’s hair. “ _We_ retained our bodies.” 

“What?” Phantom said. He thought about trying to bite Plasmius, but his hand was out of reach. “That’s not how it works. It’s not possible.”

“Yet here we are,” Plasmius said. “And there they lay, on the kitchen floor five stories above us. Unconscious, but breathing. The blood continues to coarse through our veins, even without us.”

“Fenton isn’t just a _body_ ,” Phantom said. “He’s-” 

“Autonomy,” Plasmius said. “Is a remarkable thing.” He held an arm out and one of his clones slid out from his body. It happened more smoothly than their merging. If Phantom had blinked he would have missed it. 

“The ability to act independently,” The clone continued. “To see from your own perspective without interference.” 

The original Plasmius clapped. “Did I tell you to say that?” He addressed the clone. 

“No sir,” the clone said. “I took it upon myself to follow your train of thought.” 

“Well done,” he said. “What might I have said next?” 

“You have a theory about these two,” the clone said. “Their separation is more…”

“Severe,” Plasmius supplied. “Yes, it is more severe than ours.”

“The tether of his soul has been cut out of the body,” the clone said. “Nearly...”

The clone hesitated. He stared at Phantom then directed his gaze at the ceiling. Could they tell where Fenton was from here? Was that possible for a powerful ghost? 

“Almost a clean cut,” Plasmius said. “And when you’ve been separated from your clone for long enough…” 

“Okay, cut it out,” Phantom said. “You made your point. I think? Wait, what is your point?”

The two ghosts looked at each other and Phantom blinked. Which one was the clone again? He couldn’t tell. God, this was tiresome. 

“You’re a clone,” They said, together. 

“What?!” Phantom shook his head. He felt the cube shift, just a bit, and his eyes lit up. This thing was light. He leaned his head back, as if to look at the ceiling. He made a show of groaning. “Nooooo,” he said. “No, I’m not.” 

He brought his head forward, sharply. The cube tipped forward. It landed on its side and Phantom was left to stare at the floor. He groaned for real this time. 

“Foolish child,” Plasmius said. He picked the cube up and set it back down so Phantom’s head was sticking out of the top again. “There is no use denying it.” 

“If I’m a clone then what are you?” Phantom said. 

Plasmius sighed. Well, one of them did. Then he lifted his arm with the same gesture he’d made to clone himself. His clone frowned at it, like a kid unwilling to accept that it was bedtime. But Plasmius waved his hand impatiently and the clone returned to him. He phased into his body and was gone.

He was… Dead? Phantom shuddered. 

“When I leave my body it falls unconscious,” Plasmius said. “It breaths, but it cannot act on its own. If I’m gone for too long it would need to be hospitalized. In theory it could survive on IV fluids and nutrients. Much like a coma patient. Just waiting to wake up.” 

“So you aren’t possessing Vlad Masters,” Phantom said. “You _are_ Masters.” 

Plasmius grinned. “Give the boy a prize.” He grabbed something from his cape, or pocket or something. Phantom couldn’t really tell exactly where it came from. Could ghosts have pockets if they wanted to? He wondered if he could will pockets into materializing on his hazmat suit. Before he could dwell on the thought Plasmius shoved the device under his nose.

It was a little green remote with one button. Plasmius pressed it.

The cube encasing him retracted, shrinking itself down to the size of a paperweight, sitting innocently by Phantom’s foot.

He kicked it away. “Um,” He put his fists up in what he hoped was a nice and threatening defensive fighting stance. “On guard?” 

“It’s _en garde_ ,” Plasmius said. “But that’s for fencing.” He grabbed Phantom’s fists, one in each hand, and paused. They both stood there like that, with their feet actually planted on the ground, Phantom’s fists held tenderly in Plasmius’s hands, for what felt like ages.

Actually it was probably two seconds. “Ew, could you not?” 

Plasmius let him go. He chuckled. “Teenagers,” he said. “I’ve never been in the same room with any. For any length of time.” 

“Weren’t you locked in a building with at least a hundred of them for approximately four years?” Phantom grinned in spite of himself. “It’s this weird mandatory torture, a right of passage in this country apparently.” 

“Ah yes,” Plasmius tapped his chin, appearing to think about it. “I must have blocked that out.” 

Phantom almost laughed, but he caught himself, slamming a hand over his mouth to stifle the sound. “Ah!” he said. “What are you trying to do man? What’s your game?” 

“There is no game,” Plasmius said. “You’re free to shoot me in the face. Or flee the mansion. You may stick around and shadow your human counterpart, as you have been-”

“He’s not my-” 

“I’ll allow you to keep an eye on him invisibly without alerting your _ghost hunting_ parents,” his voice seemed to change. Now he sounded like Masters. It hit Phantom for the first time that this was really him. He was just... Vlad. This was Vlad Masters. But maybe his voice didn’t change.

It had always been the same voice, hadn’t it? 

“ _Or_ ,” Vlad paused. Phantom blinked.

“Or?” he said.

“Or when the Fentons leave you could stay here,” Vlad said. “With me.”


	4. Chapter 4

Danny woke up with Vlad Masters sprawled half on top of him. Phantom and the ball of pink energy, whatever that was, were long gone. 

He decided not to tell his parents what had happened. They didn’t think highly of Amity Park’s celebrity ghost, so it was better that they didn’t know Phantom had followed them to Wisconsin. 

Instead he simply alerted them to the fact that Masters had fainted. 

Dad carried him to the nearest couch and that might have been the end of it if Harriet Chin hadn't noticed the dent in the fridge. 

"You can't just explain everything away with ghosts," Miss Chin was seething. "This is a real problem, Jack! A man is _unconscious_."

"C'mon Harry," Dad said. "Vladdy told me himself the place was haunted.” 

“Sweetie, did you hit your head?” Mom said. She had noticed a drop of blood on the collar of Danny’s shirt and was looking for the injury. He tried not to flinch as she lightly ran her fingers over his scalp. She found the scab. “What happened to you?” 

“I just tripped,” Danny said. “Uh, I mean! When Mister Masters fainted I tried to catch him. But he was too heavy. So, uh, we both fell.” 

“Did you land against the fridge?” Miss Chin said. 

“What?” Danny said. “N-no!”

She snorted. “Of course not, you’d need to be thrown against it at the speed of a jet to make a dent this huge.” 

Mom laughed too and wrapped her arms around Danny protectively. “Your bones would be crushed by an impact like that,” she said, giving Danny a squeeze. 

“It’s ghosts!” Dad said. “I can feel it in my bones.” 

“The dent is shaped oddly,” Mom said. “It’s humanoid. Look Jack. The torso, the head, the limbs.” 

“A ghost fight,” Dad was bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Two ghosts!” 

“When did the fridge become this way?” Chin was looking at Danny. “Was it already damaged when you came into the kitchen?” 

“Um,” Danny said. Now all three of them were looking at him. “I don’t know?” 

“You don’t know?” Mom echoed. “What happened while you were here?” 

“Masters fainted,” Danny said.

“Was the fridge dented before he fainted?” Chin said.

“Um, no,” Danny said. “Uh, I left to get you guys. And came back. It was like that when we got back.”

“Are you sure? Did you look at the fridge before you left?” Mom turned Danny around to face her, hands on his shoulders. “Danny this is important.”

“I don’t know,” Danny said. He wasn’t sure if it would be better or worse for Phantom, should they catch him later, for the damage to the fridge to be connected to Vlad Masters fainting spell. Would they think Phantom had attacked Masters if the fridge were dented before he fainted? “My memory is fuzzy?” 

The color drained from Mom’s face and Danny winced. He shouldn’t have said that.

“Sweetie,” she tried to smile calmly, but her eyebrows twitched. “I want you to tell me everything you remember from today. And yesterday. Actually, this is a good time for a Reflection don’t you think?” 

Danny groaned. He hated Reflections. 

He’d told Vlad Masters that there had been no side effects to his accident with the ghost portal, but that wasn’t strictly true. Physically he’d been fine. No ecto-acne, no radiation poisoning, no weird glowing of any kind. But there was _one_ side effect.

Amnesia. 

“Mom, we don’t have time for that right now,” Danny said. “We should help Mister-” 

“Listen to your mother,” Dad said. From the tone of his voice Danny knew he was trapped. It had lost its peppy enthusiasm from earlier. At the word “ _memory_ ” both his parents had sobered and his dad’s voice was subdued. “You can go upstairs to a guest room with her, eh, Danno?” 

He squared his shoulders and straightened his spine, punching his own chest like a gorilla as he regained his good cheer, “I’ll stay here and take care of Vladdy. And find those ghosts!” 

“But-”

“No buts young man,” Mom said. “C’mon.” 

Shoulders slumped, Danny followed his mother out of the room.    


oOo

 

They had finished the Reflection by the time Jazz found them. 

“What the hell is going on?!” she said. She was panting and her hair band was missing. “Are you guys looking for that stupid dairy king ghost? Can you not?”

“What’s gotten into you?” Mom said. “I thought you were enjoying the home theater.”

“I was until I almost got shot in the face by one of your stupid ray guns!” Jazz said. 

Mom walked over to Jazz and tried to brush her hair out of her face, but Jazz waved her off. “We didn’t fire any weapons,” Mom said. “At least not, wait, when did this happen?” 

Relieved to finally have her attention off of him, Danny announced, “I need to pee!” and made for the door. He half expected his mother to stop him, or to follow him, but she didn’t. She nodded at him and turned back to Jazz, who was ranting about a traumatic experience. 

Danny needed to find Phantom. Jazz had seen a blast and it didn’t matter if it had been one of Dad’s weapons or one of Phantom’s ecto-blasts. Either way it meant the ghost was in danger. Phantom had pointed out to Danny, on several occasions, that he was no good in a fight. But he’d been studying his parents inventions for weeks now. He was determined to make himself useful. 

He hadn’t tested it out yet, but if the Fenton Thermos worked the way it was meant to he could catch that powerful ghost that was fighting with Phantom.

But he'd need to find Phantom first. An arduous task considering the size of the mansion. Danny felt like a Scooby Doo character as he ran through the hallways, taking a peek into each room.

It occurred to him that this was the first time he'd sought the ghost boy out himself. Not that he didn't enjoy Phantom's company, but the dude was like a lonely puppy. Always around the corner, tail wagging. 

Interrupting homework, keeping him up too late, or catching Danny half naked while he got dressing for school… not that it mattered. Focus Fenton, he thought.

He was on the third floor when he ran into Vlad Masters.

"There you are Daniel," he said. "You gave me quite a scare."

"What _me_? But you," Danny paused. Was he actually talking to the real Vlad Masters or the ghost? "But. You. Fainted. And stuff."

"Ah, low blood sugar," Masters said. "I'm a bit anemic, you know." 

Masters put an arm around Danny's shoulder and steered him away from the room he'd been loitering in. 

"Take a walk with me, son. We have much to discuss." 

"We do?" Danny shrugged the arm off his shoulder, but followed the older man down the hall.

"I was telling you about the accident," he said. "Before we were so rudely interrupted by your little parasite."

That stopped Danny in his tracks. "Parasite?" He reached for the Fenton Thermos on his belt. "Wait. Are you," he hesitated, but the way the older man grinned at him made him think there would be no point in playing dumb. 

"You're a ghost," Danny said.

"No," Masters said. "I'm like you."

"What?"

"Both victims of the same invention," he said. "That blasted ghost portal. For me it was just the prototype, but the result was the same."

He led them to an elevator. Danny didn't want to go inside, but the older man grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him in.

"Both haunted," Masters continued. "By warped reflections that were born on the day of the accident."

Danny gulped. "H-haunted?"

"Don't be coy," Masters said. The elevator doors opened to reveal a lab much like the one his parents had set up in their basement at home.

But this one was larger, the equipment didn't look as if it had been assembled from spare parts scrounged from a junkyard, and everything was lit up under a strobe of red lights on the ceiling. 

"I've learned all I could about your parents inventions," Masters said. "Every patent they've filed, I've paid for my own versions. For my own protection, you see."

"You're afraid of ghosts," Danny said.

"I'm afraid of losing myself." 

The man strode forward, making a beeline for a cabinet in a far corner of the room. Danny stayed by the elevator.

He wanted to leave.

"I have several of these," Masters said, returning with what looked like a really thick metal belt. "You should take one."

"What is it?" Danny said. It was cold, but lighter than it looked. The red plating gave it a sleek look. He could imagine someone wearing this with a leather jacket and a motorcycle helmet.

"Protection," Masters said. "Consider it a gift."

And with that he led Danny back into the elevator.

"Mister Masters…"

"Please, call me Vlad." 

"Um, okay," Danny stared at their shoes. Vlad wore an expensive pair of loafers. He noticed there was a hole in one of his tennis shoes. "Vlad. Did you ever tell anyone? That you were haunted?"

"I tried, once," Vlad said. "But it was futile." 

"Why?" 

The elevator doors opened and they stepped out. Vlad strode ahead once again with his hands clasped behind his back. He took large steps, so that Danny nearly had to jog to keep up.

Then he abruptly stopped and spun around. 

"This is no average haunting, my boy," he said. "It cannot be solved with a simple invention, a simple weapon. In fact, I fear, to destroy or exorcise the ghost would be…"

He grimaced and blinked rapidly, as if holding back tears. He cleared his throat. "Our souls are intertwined. I might kill myself in the process."

"Your parents would never believe that," Vlad continued. "Your mother especially. For all her paranormal interests she is still, first and foremost, a woman of science."

"But how do you know you would die?" Danny said. "What makes you think-"

"Would you really want to take a risk like that?" Vlad said. "Gamble your life away just to be sure? No." 

They had almost reached the ballroom. It felt surreal, to just return to the reunion as if nothing had happened. The music was still playing and Danny could hear people talking and… screaming?

"All I can say is, be wary of your counterpart Daniel," Vlad said quickly. "Do not be seduced."

Danny walked ahead without him just in time to see his dad drive the Fenton RV through a wall.


	5. Chapter 5

This man was a total wack job.

After Phantom told him, point blank, that he did not want to live in his creepy mansion or act as a surrogate ghost son to any capacity he'd pretty much flipped his shit.

He'd started ranting about how he'd make a better father than Jack Fenton ever could and then proceeded to try and prove his point by possessing the man and wrecking the reunion.

Or he was just bitter and wanted to make Dad look bad. Phantom gave up trying to follow Vlad's train of thought and flew after him.

It was easier to pull him out of his dad than it had been to grab his core from, well, Vlad's actual body. Further proving Vlad's point that he really was attached to his human self.

What a lucky loon, Phantom thought.

"Good luck," Vlad said with a smirk, immediately disappearing as Dad came to his senses and grinned up at them.

"Ghost boy!" Dad said. "Oh boy, I'm going to catch you this time!"

Great.

 

oOo

 

Invisibility didn’t help. There was some kind of ghost honing device in the Fenton RV, allowing Dad to follow him no matter where he flew. Phantom thought he’d at least lose him if he phased into the building, but Dad- Jack, Phantom should call him Jack- just drove through a wall to chase after him.

He couldn’t properly aim at Phantom because of the invisibility, but he got one lucky shot in. It wasn’t the kind of blast Phantom was expecting. Instead he ended up coated in this weird green slime, like something out of a Nickelodeon special, which was impossible to remove.

Mom took advantage of the target it painted on him and fired away. Phantom decided at that point it would be better to retreat, but the goop prevented him from phasing through walls. He was trapped.

While was looking for an open window, debating whether or not he should just break one- it’s not like he’d get injured right?- he noticed Fenton. The boy was trying to shove through the crowd of people running for the exits. It looked like he was trying to reach their parents. Trailing after him was Vlad, human Vlad. That pompous fruitloop!

The man put his hands on Fenton’s shoulders when he was within reach, pulling him back towards the exit.

If it were anyone else Phantom would have been grateful. Fenton should get out of the way. He always ran in the wrong direction. If it were anyone else Phantom would not have pulled such a stupid stunt.

But now Fenton was in his arms and all Phantom could do was hug him close and try to shield him from the glass as Jack and Maddie Fenton screamed after them.

 

oOo

 

He deposited Fenton on the roof. The mansion rooftop was an uncomfortable assortment of sharply sloping spires, but Phantom managed to find a flat surface where they could gather their bearings.

Initially he’d been reluctant to let go of the boy, but then he’d remembered the window he’d broken and put distance between them so he could check Fenton for injuries.

First he checked Fenton’s head, running his hands through his hair carefully. He didn’t find any glass, but there was a bump on the back of his head. There was blood on his shirt.

Alarmed, Phantom lifted his shirt to see if there would be more blood. There wasn’t, but there was a bruise on Fenton’s shoulder. The boy shivered and tugged his shirt back down. It reminded Phantom that he was so much colder than the human. Perhaps…

He placed his hand on Fenton’s shoulder, hoping that he could act as an ice pack for the bruise, even through the shirt. But no, he probably wasn’t cold enough.

Then Phantom glanced at Fenton’s legs, but the boy followed his gaze and backed away from him. The way he walked, backwards and without looking, alarmed Phantom further. His human might just topple off the roof if he wasn’t careful. So Phantom hovered after him with his arms raised. But he did not directly touch Fenton again.

He didn't like the way Fenton was looking at him. It was almost as if he was afraid.

Phantom lowered his hands. Fenton was up against a wall now, nowhere near the edge of the roof. The human was standing with his hands fisted at his sides, back straight and stiff, biting his lip and just… silently regarding Phantom. Waiting for something.

“I’m sorry I left you there,” Phantom said. “As soon as I saw you on the ground I wanted to go to you. I wanted to, but I didn’t want him to notice you. I thought I should keep his attention. So I just stayed in place like an idiot, running my mouth. I was… scared.”

He was looking at Fenton’s fists as he spoke. The fingers slowly uncurled and the human leaned against the wall and lowered himself to the ground. He exhaled slowly and Phantom saw a tear caught on his eyelashes.

Phantom lowered himself to Fenton’s level, sitting on his knees, bent forward. He was tempted to bow, to grovel, anything to fix this. Fenton kept an eye on him as Phantom approached, retracting his legs so that they were out of reach. He hugged his knees to his chest.

“It’s no excuse,” Phantom said. “I should have-”

“What am I?” Fenton said. Now his eyes were on his knees.

“What?” Phantom sat back.

“Am I like a pet?” Fenton said. He scrubbed at his eyes. “Your human pet?”

“What?” Phantom repeated, stupidly. “N-no! You’re just… You’re you.”

“Then why are you haunting me?” Fenton said.

Phantom stared at him. It was the first time Fenton had acknowledged their relationship for what it was. Phantom recalled what Vlad had called him. His human counterpart.

He couldn’t say that. He didn’t want Fenton to know. But he had no other explanation.

“Why did you kidnap me?” Fenton said. He was curling in on himself, his head resting against his knees, which were still tucked against his chest. His arms tightened around them.

“K-kidnap?” Phantom echoed. Stupid. He was stupid. “I didn’t mean- I wasn’t. Uh.”

“You just carried me off,” Fenton said. “Like I was your property!”

“I had to get you away from Vlad!” Phantom said. “He had his hands on you. He was-”

“That’s no excuse,” Fenton said. “You can’t just pick me up like that. Ever.”

“He’s dangerous,” Phantom said. “You don’t understand what he is.”

“I don’t understand what you are,” Fenton said. “Maybe you’re dangerous.”

Phantom put his hands on the ground between them, palm down. Then he brought his head down over them, bowing low to the ground like he’d seen in anime.

“I’m sorry,” he said. He was mumbling into his arms and he worried Fenton couldn’t hear him, so he raised his voice a little. “I swear, I would never hurt you.”

“I’m sorry too,” Fenton said.

There was a flash of blue light. A vortex. A black hole? Phantom felt himself melting away. He couldn’t see. He couldn’t. Move. Or even lie still and just feel his own existence.

He no longer existed.

 

oOo

 

It was like being stuck in the car without music. It was like finishing a test early and your teacher won’t let you leave or work on something else. Won’t even let you read a book.

So you’re sitting at your desk alone with your thoughts.

But at least you can doodle on your eraser, or pick off eraser crumbs and make a pile. At least you can fiddle with your hands or stick your arms inside your shirt. At least you have a body and things to look at.

Phantom wondered if this was what death was supposed to feel like.

Emptiness. Darkness.

But then why wouldn’t his thoughts turn off?

He was stuck with them. They were all he had. So he thought and he wondered if Fenton was still on the roof. Had Vlad come up from behind him and zapped him with something? Had he taken Fenton and asked him to give up his life in Amity Park?

Or maybe his parents had come for him. He wanted to believe that they were all in the Fenton RV right now, ready to put Wisconsin behind them. They’d go home without Phantom flying after them this time. Fenton would be relieved, maybe.

If he had lungs Phantom would have hyperventilated. This was worse than being stuffed in a locker and left to rot for hours. This was worse than getting his hair stuck in dad’s weird Fenton vacuum cleaner.

It was worse than any bad experience he could dredge up. Yet as he swam through all the bad memories he was relieved that they were all still there. It meant he wasn’t gone. Not yet.

 

oOo

 

When his body was returned to him Phantom curled up into a ball and closed his eyes. The light was blinding and he had an irrational fear that his limbs might scatter to the wind if he didn’t grab them tightly. There were sounds, now, but his thoughts were louder. He couldn’t make them out. Then there was warmth. It felt pleasant for a second. Then stifling.

“Too hot,” Phantom gasped. “Too bright.”

The warmth left him and he heard someone swear. A lightswitch clicked off.

Phantom opened his eyes and was greeted by the glow-in-the-dark stickers on his bedroom ceiling. A crescent moon, the big dipper. He sighed and felt himself relax.

He didn’t realize he’d been slowly floating upward until he almost knocked his head against the ceiling fan.

“Phantom?” someone said. No, it was a special voice. It was his own.

“F-Fenton,” he spun himself around too quickly and his momentum somehow carried him into the closet. The door was open, thankfully, because he didn’t bother to make himself intangible.

He jostled the clothes that were hung there and then landed on the ground, blanketed by them. Phantom inhaled the familiar scent of his mother’s favorite laundry detergent. He smiled and nuzzled into his impromptu nest. He’d be content to take a nap here if sleep were possible.

“Dude, you’re freaking me out,” Fenton said. “Are you high or something?”

It looked like the human was using the closet door as a shield. The top of his head poked out, just enough for him to peek in on Phantom. It was adorable.

Phantom giggled. “I’m high on the five senses,” he said. “I missed them.”

“Oh,” Fenton said. “Right. Sorry. Uh, wh-what was it like in there?”

“It was like being stuffed in a locker,” Phantom said. “But… Actually, no. It was nothing like that. Because in a locker you can feel your legs cramp up. You can feel yourself get sticky with sweat and you can wriggle around and bang your head against the door. You can shout yourself hoarse, you can chew on your shirt, you can-”

“Okay!” Fenton said. “I’ve got the visual, thank you.”

“What was that place?” Phantom said. He hugged the pile of clothes to his chest. A hanger nearly poked his eye out. “I’ve never… What happened?”

Fenton sighed. He opened the closet door all the way, maybe realizing it was a useless shield against a ghost, and sat on the floor with his legs crossed in front of him. He unbuckled his belt and Phantom zeroed in on the movement. What was he…?

“This,” Fenton said. “My dad just calls it the Fenton Thermos.”

It looked like a regular old soup thermos. It was gray with green trim at the bottom and below the lid. But when Phantom squinted at it he could see an underlying pattern of… circuits. The pattern was similar to the one on the box Vlad had used to imprison him.

Phantom gulped. “Your parents caught me with that?”

“No, I did.”

There was a beat of silence as the two regarded each other. Then Phantom stood. He dropped the clothes and made to step out of the closet.

Fenton flinched, but remained seated. Phantom paused.

“You’re afraid of me,” he said. “I messed up and now you’re afraid of me.”

Fenton peeked up at Phantom through his bangs. Again a beat passed in silence. Phantom didn’t realize he’d reacted by activating his invisibility until Fenton stood back up and glanced around the room in alarm. “Phantom?!”

“I’m still here,” Phantom said.

“Why are you invisible?”

“It was an accident,” Phantom said. Still, he made no move to correct the mistake. He liked the way Fenton lifted his hands and searched for him. He found Phantom easily. Standing exactly where he had been.

Fenton poked him in the stomach first. Then he found Phantom’s arm and followed it up to his shoulder. “You’re just going to stay invisible?”

“Probably.” It pleased Phantom. This role reversal. He stood still and enjoyed the warmth of Fenton’s hands. Fenton let go of him and he wanted to grab his hand. To put it back on his shoulder. Or on his head. He wanted Fenton to pat him or something. Anything.

If anyone was a pet here it was Phantom. A ghost pet, just for him.

“I’m not afraid of you,” Fenton said. “Not when you’re… Like this.”

“Invisible?”

“No, when you’re… Normal. When you’re nice. Calm.” Fenton walked away and Phantom floated after him. He sat at his desk and put his head in his hands. “I thought you’d be pissed at me for using the thermos on you.”

Phantom said nothing.

“Are you still here?” Fenton said. He tugged at the hairs on the nape of his neck and Phantom mirrored the movement unconsciously. “Please, Phantom. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too,” Phantom said.

Then he flew away.

 

 

**END PART ONE**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you think there'd be a big ol' fight scene in this chapter? A grand finale? Sorry, I can't do those ;-; 
> 
> Thanks for reading this far! This is the end of the first arc in the Phantom Pain series. Please subscribe to the series if you want to be notified when I post more. I'm afraid it'll be a bit of a wait because: 
> 
> 1\. My lil vacation is over (ah I miss the days of having the entire three months to myself, being an adult sucks) and 
> 
> 2\. I'm gonna take a break from this story to write something else. Like, in another fandom. (You can take a look at my other works if you're curious?)
> 
> But don't worry I have a lot of plans for this AU. Like four arcs worth of plot maps, it's gonna be fun.


End file.
